Travel in Silence.

by Roberto Nencini

My Algeria journey took me through in the vast region of the Hoggar and Tassili Tadrart Acacus, through places of volcanic origin and landscapes reminiscent of the lunar soil.

Among ups and downs along the valleys of grey stone, in the shadow of strangely shaped peaks, there are natural sculptures like wax castings. We surrendered to the blue of a cloudless sky which contrasts with the rocks and sand, creating a unique and exciting color harmony.

The wind has shaped natural arches creating alluring scenes, each form is to testify that the Neolithic wrote ancient history here. The rock art found in this place consists of graffiti, paintings and images of hunting scenes.

The dunes hug the rocks that are surrounded by canyons carved by the wind, with open caves on the rocky walls, mazes, towers and formations as if they were out of a fairy-tale with majestic cathedrals that soar towards the infinite. The color of the sand is never the same, its variations are amazing. This sea of sand dunes gives unique emotions, the soft sands shaped by Simoom, who’s noise interrupts a deafening silence: the voice of the desert.

The scenery is worthy of the best director and the silence is its soundtrack - one of the best partners in this adventure of rare personal introspection, loyal and respectful of such beauty.

“I have always loved the desert. It sits on a sand dune. You do not see anything. I do not hear anything. And yet something shines in silence.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)